


She's Bouncing

by quill_and_ink



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: F/M, Gen, Revenge, Sarcasm, Snark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-22
Updated: 2019-02-22
Packaged: 2019-11-03 23:39:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17887319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quill_and_ink/pseuds/quill_and_ink
Summary: What if Ianthe didn't die in the Weaver's Cottage duringA Court of Wings and Ruin? What if Feyre was able to get her revenge for Ianthe's numerous betrayals personally?





	She's Bouncing

**Author's Note:**

> So this was inspired by this [Tumblr post](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/58/af/45/58af451f758b55e595ccdb1dd6f1570d.jpg) that I stumbled across in an SJM Facebook group and knew I needed to write the Ianthe ship.
> 
> Characters (and my emotional well-being) belong to Sarah J. Maas. Unbetaed, all errors are my own.

Even wrapped in the heaviest of my Illyrian leathers, the chill wind of the mountains surrounded me as though I wore nothing, snaking icy tendrils across every inch of my body. Pulled haphazardly back into a loose braid, the ends of my hair whipped across my face, raking across my skin like razor-sharp shards of glass. I squeezed my hands into fists, both for warmth and to hide the trembling of my fingers. A night-dark talon scraped affectionately across the wall of my mental shield; I inhaled as I drew my barrier back the tiniest bit.

_Show no fear, mate,_ Rhysand reminded me through the bond, a smile curling through his voice.

_I'm not afraid,_ I retorted. _I'm pissed off. There's a very distinct difference._

I avoided glancing over at Rhys as his chuckle echoed through my mind. I quickly sent him an image of me flipping two fingers at him before slamming shut that barrier of black adamant that surrounded my mind. I stepped to the edge of the mountain cliff and gazed out. For all its horrible weather and backwards attitudes of those that called this place home, the Illyrian Mountains were breathtakingly gorgeous. Steep, snow-strewn peaks broke through the scattered clouds above, seemingly reaching straight into the heavens above. The sun glittered across the jagged ice dotting the cliff tops. We'd chosen one of the highest mountains, flying in at dawn that morning; from our vantage point, I could have sworn that I could see all the way to the Spring Court in the south.

A snuffling sob brought my attention back to the reason why we'd all made the trek out into the bitter cold that morning. I pulled on my mask, that of the High Lady of the Night Court, Rhys's mate, what the world expected the Night Court to be. Disdain slipped over my features even as disgust and entitlement crept through my veins. I straightened, holding myself higher than I did when I was just with my family, and I turned, the very picture of the Queen of the Court of Nightmares, as I faced the broken, pathetic creature before me.

Ianthe's pale blue robes were torn and filthy from her weeks in the dungeons below the Hewn City. Her vibrant teal eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she gazed up at me, slumped in a withdrawn pile at Cassian's and Azriel's feet. "Feyre... Feyre, please... this isn't you, it's -"

I scoffed. "This isn't me? Why, because it's not some brainless thought or opinion that you fed me?" I demanded.

"Rhysand - the Night Court - he's brainwashed you," the priestess whispered, her eyes wide. "This wasn't what you were meant to be - he's _changed_ you somehow, through his mind control."

"He _saved_ me," I responded coldly, the ice of the Winter Court frosting across my fingers at her words. "I was wasting away in the Spring Court and you know it."

"No, Tamlin loved you!" Ianthe pleaded, her tears finally slipping down her cheeks like glimmering crystals, shattering on her tattered robes.

"Tamlin was my _captor_ ," I snapped, taking a few stalking footsteps towards her. The ice on my fingers melted away in a heartbeat as I allowed the smallest fraction of my fury to fuel the fire in my veins. "He locked me in that house, he refused to let me out, to let me do _anything_ at all. I wasn't his love, I wasn't going to be his wife - I was his prisoner, from the moment he took me from my family's home. Even after Amarantha, after everything I did and everything I went through, Tamlin still refused to give me the key."

" _Lies_ , these are lies!" Ianthe wailed. "You were going to be his queen - you would have been treasured above all!"

"I didn't want to be treasured, Ianthe," I stated, staring down at her. "I never wanted to be on a pedestal or in some little trophy case. I wanted to _live_." I looked up, catching my mate's eye, and my heart stuttered in my chest. I still wasn't used to the desire, the love, the absolute dedication shining in Rhys's eyes every time he gazed at me. I hope I never got used to it.

"Feyre, it's not too late," Ianthe whispered to me, glancing frantically over her shoulder at the shadows curling around Azriel's legs. "We can escape, you and me, and we can go somewhere safe. I know places, people who can help us -"

"Help us... what? In what world would I need the type of help you can provide?"

"We can get the enchantments on your mind lifted," Ianthe continued babbling, shuffling towards me on the ground. "You can be your normal self again. Just... please just remove these..." Beseechingly, she held up her shackled wrists, Hybern's chains clanking gently together. I'd felt nauseous this morning when I'd wrapped the manacles around her thin wrists, the suppressive magic in the chains reaching for me with every second that the metal was in my hands. I fought back a shudder at the memory. I was almost sorry for putting them on Ianthe.

Almost.

"This is taking too long. Can we just chuck her over the mountain already?" Cassian complained, his wings flaring slightly. "We didn't eat breakfast before we left and I'm starving."

"You're always starving," Mor interjected, rolling her eyes.

"He's not wrong. This is taking an eternity," Amren called over to them. She was perched on a boulder nearby, cleaning her nails with a tiny sliver of bone.

"That says a lot, coming from someone as old as you." Cassian grinned at Amren. She narrowed her eyes and bared her teeth, hissing at him in irritation.

"Feyre does this on her own time," Rhysand commented lightly, his eyes never leaving mine. "This is her revenge."

Ianthe's eyes widened further, and the golden circlet upon her hood slipped. She looked more like a parody of a priestess, someone playing dress-up, rather than one of the holy sisters. Tears slid unchecked down her flawless cheeks. "Please... no..."

"You've done enough damage, Ianthe," I murmured, my voice barely audible above the wind. "You betrayed me, my family, the mortals below the wall, Prythian... you're finished. I refuse to let you plague this land any further. Your end comes now."

I nodded sharply to Cassian and Azriel and took a step back towards the edge of the mountainside. The two Illyrian warriors hauled the slender priestess to her feet, ignoring her shrieks and sobs as they dragged her to the cliff.

A sudden wave of indecision swept over me and I hurled my thought to Rhys down the bond. _I'm doing the right thing with her, aren't I?_

_Only you can make that decision, Feyre,_ he responded almost instantly. _I meant it when I said this is your revenge. No one will blame you if you decide you want to let her rot in the cells in the Hewn City instead._

"High Lady?" Cassian asked, taking a step towards me. The unexpected shift towards formality sent a dizzying stab of panic straight to my heart. I gasped, all of the air exploding from my lungs in a second and leaving me breathless. I closed my eyes, competing desires racing through me - this was different. This wasn't in a battle where I was killing to save myself or my family. This was a decisive act of murder...

"Feyre - Feyre, please!" Ianthe burst out, displaying an unnatural burst of strength as she lunged towards me. Azriel's lips thinned into a single line as he tightened his grip on her arm and yanked her back to Cassian. "I know - I _know_ you're angry about what happened in Hybern, but -"

Cassian's snarl was cut short as I turned my gaze on Ianthe, the fire of the Autumn Court suddenly blazing forth, radiating fury as the priestess quailed before me.

"Oh, shit," Mor muttered from Rhys's side.

" _But?_ " I prompted through clenched teeth.

"But... I did it for _you_. I knew you wanted to have your sisters at your side in your new life as High Fae!" Ianthe whimpered, a mere shell of the powerful woman I'd once admired in Tamlin's court. Her words raced through me, stoking the fire that burned beneath my skin. I took a deep breath in an attempt to calm myself, to not act out of sheer emotion, but with the dignity and demeanor of the High Lady of the Night Court -

"Nope."

Cassian and Azriel had only the briefest second of warning before my booted foot lifted, punching forward and landing squarely in Ianthe's perfectly flat abdomen. Azriel deftly leapt out of reach as the priestess shrieked and flailed her arms, chains sparkling in the early morning sunlight as she stumbled backwards and off the edge of the cliff. At the last moment, her hand latched on to the edge of Cassian's wing, grasping desperately for a saving purchase; with a pained roar, Cassian followed her over the edge.

"Oh, calm down, he's got wings," Mor reminded me with a pinch to my arm as she sauntered past, quelling the terrified shriek on my lips. "He'll be just fine."

Rhysand grinned at me as he swept his arm around my waist, pressing a kiss to my forehead. _You forgot about the wings, didn't you?_

_I did not. He could have hit his head, I was concerned he might lose what few brain cells he has left._

_It's okay to admit you forgot about the wings. Not sure how would manage that considering how much he flaps them around, but we all forget things from time to time._

_Oh, shut up._

Rhys's laugh echoed throughout the mountaintops as he tugged me towards the cliff to join Mor, Amren, and Azriel in looking over the edge. Amren glanced over at me, a sly smile curving her blood-red lips. "Well done, girl. I didn't think you'd do it."

I paused. "I'm not sure if I should be offended or flattered."

She brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes and simply smirked before turning her attention back over the edge. I suppressed a shudder as I followed her gaze in time to see Cassian kick Ianthe in the face. He'd managed to beat his free wing hard enough to stay aloft as she dangled, screaming, from the other over the endless amount of open air beneath her. Blood sprayed from Ianthe's ruined nose as she sobbed, her hair flowing free, her golden circlet lost to the ground far below. Her nails dug deeper into Cassian's wing. He let loose a ferocious bellow even as he slammed his boot into Ianthe's face once more, her cheekbone caving in with a crack audible from where we all stood.

"Cousin, Cass is going to be pissed if his wing gets torn up so soon after they were healed," Mor pointed out, crossing her arms. "We should probably end this."

He glanced down at me, silently asking my opinion. I shrugged, curling into his body in an attempt to stave off the bitter wind. _Could you? I don't think I'd be able to do anything with her at that distance without possibly hitting Cassian._ Rhys said nothing, but straightened, gazing back out at the battling pair. Ianthe suddenly flexed her fingers, releasing Cassian's wing without warning. Her eyes widened, seeming to hover in mid-air for a split-second before she began plummeting to the forest below. Her blood-curdling shriek bounced off the nearby mountaintops, startling a pack of birds from a distant grove of trees.

"You should have pushed her closer from the edge," Azriel commented quietly. "She would have soared out farther."

"It's not really how far _out_ she goes, though, just that she goes all the way down," Mor countered as Cassian landed next to her in a flurry of wings and obscenities.

"It's _always_ my fucking wings," he grumbled, curling his injured wing around him to inspect the tiny shreds at the edge. Mor rolled her eyes and stepped over to him to examine the tears.

"You're all missing out," Amren noted smoothly, her attention rooted on the falling priestess. "She's starting to bounce."

"She's _bouncing_?!" Cassian demanded, his eyes bright as he quickly stepped over to the edge and stared out, the injuries to his wings seemingly forgotten. "By the Cauldron, she's actually bouncing."

I probably should have been more horrified by our calm fascination with Ianthe's violent and impending death, but I just couldn't bring myself to care. Rhys wrapped his arms around me as we all watched Ianthe's body slam first into a boulder, then flop onto the ground, rolling and picking up speed until she was launched off another cliff further down.

"Ohh, that was a good bounce," Amren said approvingly, the silver in her eyes swirling faster.

"She's definitely getting to the bottom of the mountain much faster now than she would have just falling," Mor added.

"I... don't think that's accurate," Rhys mused. "But she certainly deserves each bounce on the way down."

"One bounce for each betrayal," I murmured, my gaze locked on Ianthe's rag-doll form as she disappeared into the tree line far below. Rhys's arms tightened around me and I closed my eyes as his warmth surrounded me.

_I'm proud of you._

His words echoed in my mind as that single sharp talon brushed tantalizingly against my shields.

_Does revenge-driven murder turn you on, then?_ I shot back snippily, turning in his arms to face him. His eyes glittered as he gazed down at me, the rest of our family forgotten.

_Not murder, but I'd be happy to show you what_ does _turn me on,_ he responded, his voice taut with promise and desire.

"For the love of the Mother, can you two just hold off for five minutes?" Mor groaned. Rhys and I both glanced over at her. "I'm freezing and hungry, and the twins probably have breakfast ready by now. Can we _please_ go eat?"

I grinned at her. "Feel free," I responded in my sweetest voice. "We'll be home later."

A moment later, Rhysand swept me into his arms and launched us into the air, his lips finding mine even as he winnowed us away.


End file.
